One of the best things about being dean is to watch faculty and students build the successes that help their careers and the reputation of Michigan Tech. Three items passed across my desk this week that show the range of areas where the people in this college are doing really good things.
Kathy Halvorsen, professor of natural resources policy in Social Sciences, with a joint appointment in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences, was just elected Executive Director of the International Association for Society and Natural Resources (IASNR). Her term will begin in January 2018. Kathy has been deeply involved in a major project on Sustainability, Ecosystem Services, and Bioenergy Development across the Americas, sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s Partnerships for International Research and Education program to the tune of $4.8 million over the period 2012-17. Through such international efforts, Kathy has been involved in IASNR, culminating in this newest leadership position within the organization.
Anne Beffel, professor in Visual and Performing Arts, has been deeply in performance art over her entire career. She has labeled her most recent effort “Every Color of Eyes.” The effort is related at least in part to the visit to campus this week of Jane Elliot, recipient of the National Mental Health Association Award for Excellence in Education. Elliot conducted the now famous “Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes Experiment” in which she treated blue-eyed students better than brown-eyed students, and student performance quickly came to match those expectations. Beffel, with the help of several students, intends to show our differences as well as our common humanity through the metaphor of eye color. She is asking for people to email her pictures of their eyes for an exhibit opening March 31 in the Rozsa Gallery. Please consider volunteering!
Stephanie Dietrich, received first place presentation in the Fifth Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Her research was “Subjective and Objective Assessments of Sleep Differ in Male and Female Collegiate Athletes,” in Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology.
This is the second year in a row that KIP students have been at the top of the list in this event! And that does not exhaust the list of accomplishment from that department.
Two KIP students- Matt Kilgas and Thomas Bye — and faculty advisor Steve Elmer received Michigan Space Grant Consortium awards in the most recent competition. But this year Tom Bye was the first undergraduate in the department to secure this type of support.
Congrats to Stephanie, Matt, Tom. Clearly, the faculty and students in the college are doing quite well – and I extend my congratulations to all of them!